


Second String

by Rina (rinadoll)



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 14:17:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinadoll/pseuds/Rina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will Dana abdicate her post? Can the second string save the day? All that and more at this link. You're reading Sports Night fic on Ao3, so stick around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second String

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hardlygolden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardlygolden/gifts).



> Thanks to my friends, beta readers and hand holders!

_Achoo!_

Dan didn't look up.

_Aaa-choo!_

Casey cringed.  
_  
Aaaa-CHOOOO!_

Dana propped herself up on the doorway to their office and coughed miserably.

"Go home," Dan said, still not looking up from his notepad.

"I cannot and will not abdicate my post," Dana said proudly.

"You can and you should," Casey said. "Stop breathing at me." He leaned back from his perch on the corner of his desk.

"Don't be a baby," Dana scoffed.

A sudden intake of breath was Casey's only warning before she sneezed on him. Dan started laughing as Casey froze, a look of horror on his face.

"Don't look like that," Dana said. "I missed your face. Go clean yourself up."

"Go home," Casey implored her. "Home. Away. Go. Now."

"I can't," Dana said. "It's Natalie's night off."

"I know," Casey said, dabbing at his shirt-front with a tissue and grimace. "Just tell Isaac you need a sub. It's not the first time."

"Do you know who the sub will be?" Dana asked.

"No," Casey said. "But I'm sure whoever it is will be fine."

"It's Sally," Dana said. "Sally. I am not leaving. That woman will not be in charge of my show, not as I live and breathe."

"If you stay, there might not be much living or breathing," Casey said. "If you don't just drop, one of us will kill you for germ spreading."

"What if we sneak you out and don't tell Isaac?" Dan asked.

"What?" Dana said, sneezing again. This time she managed to catch it with the tissue box Casey threw at her.

"You go home, rest up, stop infecting us. If we don't tell Isaac, he won't tell Sally to do the show. We are all smart people. We can collectively do what you do for one night."

Casey nodded. "Danny's right. I'm sure we can."

Dana looked between the two men, who were projecting airs of great confidence. "This can't end well."

"Perhaps not," Dan said. "But I think the night's screwed either way. This way, we don't get sick. I'd call it a win."

Dana looked at Casey. "Call me if you have any questions. I mean it. Anything. Just call me."

"I will call you," he repeated obediently.

She turned to Dan. "Make sure he calls me."

"Yes, ma'am," Dan said.

"Okay." She headed for the door, but paused. "I don't know..." she trailed off into a coughing fit. She signed. "Okay. Please don't break my show."

"We won't," Dan and Casey promised in unison.

"Okay. I'm going out. Cover me."

Casey followed her out of the office. No one noticed as they made their way towards Dana's office, but Casey still felt jumpy and a little too much like giggling nervously, yet manfully.

Once inside, Dana grabbed her coat and Casey automatically helped her into it.

"Casey," she began.

Casey smiled at her. "Feel better, Dana." He kissed her forehead. "We'll be fine."

She smiled back. "All right. Thank you." She whipped her head to the side and sneezed. "Yeah, I'm gross. I'm going."

She ducked out and into the stairwell. As the door closed behind her, a cough echoed out.

"Where's she going?"

Isaac's voice made Casey jump.

"Uh, out for cough medicine," Casey said, thinking quickly. "She'll be back soon."

"And you made her go herself?" Isaac asked. "Be a gentleman next time, Casey."

"Yes, sir," Casey said. "Of course. Next time."

He rushed back to his and Dan's office when Isaac walked off, and nearly collided with Jeremy in their doorway.

"Hey, have you seen Dana? I want to run -" Jeremy began.

"She's around. Getting medicine. But she'll be back. Real soon," Casey blurted out.

"Uh, Case?" Dan said. "You do realize that Jeremy's going to need to know, right?"

Casey blinked. "Oh. Right. Sorry, I just ran into Isaac and -"

"Tell me that you handled him better than Jeremy," Dan interrupted.

"I did, actually," Casey said.

"I'm still here, guys," Jeremy said. "Is Dana?"

Casey shut the door. "No."

"Okay," Jeremy looked between them. "What am I missing?"

"She's not coming back," Casey said.

"She quit?!" Jeremy's voice scaled up.

"No, no," Dan said, glaring at Casey. "She went home sick."

"Oh," Jeremy said, his tone indicating that they were both crazy. "Who's her sub?"

"We are," Dan said. "It's us or Sally, so we promised her we wouldn't tell Isaac that she left."

"And she actually trusted you?" Jeremy asked. "She must have been real sick."

"The important thing is that we promised, and that we also said we wouldn't break her show," Dan said.

"Wow. I don't know which will be harder to keep," Jeremy mused.

"Be that as it may," Dan said, as Casey snapped, "We can do without the attitude."

They looked at each other. Dan raised his eyebrows.

"Maybe a little attitude is warranted," Casey admitted.

They began outlining who needed to know and when. The hardest part was figuring out what Dana did all day. The broad strokes, they knew. The small details that made the show work, not so much. They listed what they could and hoped others could fill in blanks.

  
By the end of the night, they were feeling good. They had divided Dana's duties and completed them all with time to spare.

"We are going to rock this," Casey said smugly, as they made their way into the control room.

Dan offered him a high five. "We are da men," he said.

Kim cleared her throat and glared.

"We are da people!" Dan corrected himself. "Kim, Elliot, Jeremy, this is your night to shine. To show everyone exactly what kind of mettle you are made of. Are you ready?"

"I'm calling gold," Kim said.

"Platinum is nice," Elliot added. "I'll be platinum."

"Palladium," Jeremy said. "I'm definitely palladium."

"I want to be silver," Will said. "Why can't I be a metal? Maybe I'll be associate producer some day, too."

"We can share silver," Chris said and they shook on it.

Dan stared at them. "You do realize that I said...forget it. Good show, everyone."

"Danny?" Casey asked as they settled in at their desk and let the makeup crew do their work.

"Yeah?"

"What's palladium?"

"Nothing any man needs to know about," Dan said.

"And Danny?" Casey continued, pausing on page two of his script.

"Yeah?"

"Who won the games that were played today?"

Dan looked at him, an expression of horror on his face.

"I'm on it," Jeremy said through their earpieces as Chris counted them down.

"Good evening, everybody, live from New York City. I'm Casey McCall, alongside Dan Rydell. We've got those stories plus we hear that there were some games played today. We're going to get you some details on those," Casey said, grinning at the camera.

"Yup, in sixty seconds, we're going to know all the scores and impart our impressive wisdom in your general direction," Dan said. "All that coming up after this. You're watching Sports Night on CSC, so stick around."


End file.
